David Harrison Horton
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David Harrison Horton
@unionherald.bsky.social
1.8K followers 2.4K following 440 posts
Artist, curator, editor, and writer based in Beijing. Author of Necessary (Downingfield, 2025), Model Answers (CCCP Chapbooks, 2024) and Maze Poems (Arteidolia, 2022). Edits poetry zine SAGINAW.
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unionherald.bsky.social
David Harrison Horton @unionherald.bsky.social · Jul 27
My second full-length poetry book, Necessary, is out today from Downingfield Press. I am really very excited about this. If you’re interested in reviewing it please DM me. downingfield.com/book/necessa...
The cover of David Harrison Horton’s Necessary. The cover shows colorful geometric patterns with minuscule mythical figures among them. David Harrison Horton’s Necessary is a poetic exploration of time, place, and connection. Drawing on sources as diverse as Babylonian creation myths, Carolingian history, Marco Polo, Paul Éluard, Elizabeth Willis, and Xinran, Horton layers fragments and imagery into a contemporary meditation on how we come to understand our place within inherited and unfolding narratives. Structured in a fixed nine-line form, each poem places these elements in dialogue with the movements and longings of a recurring figure, Mr Lusk. As he walks the ‘well-beaten path’, Mr Lusk confronts the weight of history and heritage, echoing the universal need to reckon with what has come before. With laconic precision, Horton’s voice allows each fragment to resonate, inviting readers to draw their own meaning from the intricate weave of past and present. Necessary is a compelling inquiry into how stories shape us – and how we, in turn, shape them.
unionherald.bsky.social
Going to say once again for clarity: I’m here for poetry, small press stuff, stuff where that might be adjacent. If you’re a human and don’t want to be blocked, DM me and etc. Getting too many robots this week
November 21, 2025 at 12:20 PM
unionherald.bsky.social
Li Biao Percussion Group @ the Egg. Easily in my top 5 of performances I’ve seen here. At one point, they were playing tinfoil and bottle brushes (pic). Steve Reich, Xenakis, even Bach on the program. Glad the NCPA put this on. Easily the closest to avant I’ve seen in concert hall officialdom here.
Li Biao Percussion Group sitting on the concert hall floor in a semi circle playing household things like tinfoil and bottle scrubbers as instruments
November 20, 2025 at 11:55 PM
unionherald.bsky.social
Look what my friend and fellow poet, Dom Armstrong, did. It’s a pretty great chap.
Cover of Dom Armstrong’s chapbook How I Saved David Horton’s Life in 9 Different Ways Blurb: In How I Saved David Horton’s Life in 9 Different ways, Dom Armstrong delivers a darkly comic exploration of friendship, futility, and the fragile theatre of redemption. The Koi Pond A sliver of a crescent moon above the surface, the pond held its liquor better than we could. We leaned too far over the dark, whispering fish. He said, “They look like ghosts rehearsing.” I said, “They’re waiting for reincarnation.” He tipped, I caught, gravity reconsidered. The koi kept circling, unbothered. He laughed, half water, half whisky. That was the first time he let me save him.
November 19, 2025 at 12:42 AM
Reposted by David Harrison Horton
robmclennan.bsky.social
Elizabeth Robinson, vulnerability index / @nupress.bsky.social ;
robmclennan.blogspot.com/2025/11/eliz...
Elizabeth Robinson, vulnerability index
Meth-filled rage that makes the man’s screams audible over a two-block range. Rage that enables him to heave a heavy rock overhead int...
robmclennan.blogspot.com
November 18, 2025 at 1:34 PM
unionherald.bsky.social
SAGINAW has nominated pieces by @billymills.bsky.social, Stephen Ratcliffe, Katie Coy, @dangodston.bsky.social, and
@thedaybooks.bsky.social for the Pushcart Prize.
November 12, 2025 at 6:17 AM
unionherald.bsky.social
Kyla Houbolt's book came in the mail today. I read it earlier this year to rightly praise it. Now, I am going to re-read it over a cup of beautiful longjing tea. You should get a copy if you haven't already.
The cover of Kyla Houbolt's book Becoming Altar: New and Selected Poems.
November 12, 2025 at 6:12 AM
Reposted by David Harrison Horton
allisonanne.com
mutable edge // handcut paper collage with graphite on recycled paperboard, november 2025

#collageart #abstract #collage #queerart #artist
semi-abstract sectioned paper collage with bird stamps, minerals, clouds, curtains
November 11, 2025 at 1:58 AM
Reposted by David Harrison Horton
literaryartsfund.bsky.social
The Literary Arts Fund’s 2026 general operating grant application window is now open. U.S.-based literary arts nonprofits whose primary mission is presenting, publishing, and/or otherwise directly supporting creative writers are invited to apply: literaryartsfund.org/grants/
Applications now open through December 19, 2025 for 2026 general operating grants for U.S.-based literary arts nonprofits that directly support creative writers
November 10, 2025 at 4:59 PM
unionherald.bsky.social
Not sure why someone however long ago decided to carve two goats outside of their pen into a rock up in the Helan Mountains in north China, but I’m kinda glad they did. I do, however, feel there’s probably more to the story than we’re getting now.
A stone carving showing two goats outside of a pen.
November 8, 2025 at 6:35 AM
unionherald.bsky.social
Walking around the Western Xia Imperial Tombs thinking about how everything eventually slips into history (remembered or not). It was actually a very calming experience.
Western Xia Imperial Tomb no 3. Central pagoda and a few others buildings all fairly eroded.
November 7, 2025 at 9:37 AM
Reposted by David Harrison Horton
nemoloris.bsky.social
Stoat Poetry, a new magazine edited by Ingrid Leonard.
www.stoatmagazine.co.uk/about
Stoat Poetry - About
Stoat Poetry is a new, paper-based magazine operating out of the North of Scotland and Greece. Stoat aims to publish the best original poetry on any theme from new and established poets. We receive no...
www.stoatmagazine.co.uk
November 4, 2025 at 4:25 PM
unionherald.bsky.social
A movie you have seen more than seven times…
November 3, 2025 at 11:02 PM
Reposted by David Harrison Horton
thedaybooks.bsky.social
Your brain is not a computer.
Your thoughts are not algorithmic.

Don’t let Silicon Valley limit your understanding of your own mind with inaccurate metaphors.
November 3, 2025 at 5:23 PM
Reposted by David Harrison Horton
jordandavis.bsky.social
Any day now Asterism is going to move Kyla’s book from the preorder column to the order column. Order today!!!
subpresspoetry.bsky.social Subpress Poetry @subpresspoetry.bsky.social · Sep 30
Preorder now: the first full collection from Kyla Houbolt asterismbooks.com/product/beco...
The distributor’s search result for a book with a light blue cover with yellow type: **ASTERISM Search by title, author, translator, or ISBN Q Becoming Altar New and Selected Poems Kyla Houbolt $20.00 < Pre-order
November 3, 2025 at 5:26 PM
Reposted by David Harrison Horton
luaz.bsky.social
#Poetry
I generally don't like to buy a book of poems without seeing a little example, so here is a breakfast-appropriate selection from Becoming Altar: The Devilry of Eggs.
THE DEVILRY OF EGGS Here come some eggs. Travel is always fraught for these fellows, their delicate wings having been shattered before they left the henhouse, and the hen, for that matter. These are just your ordinary eggs, too, not used to taking the train, and forget legging it. They roll, constantly course correcting for the built-in wobble. After all, they are just babies. We can't expect much from them, only fragility, and, inside, a gooey clear gel around that yellow blog. Eggs have no bling, no sting, can't sing. Poor things. They'll never make it in this world.
October 30, 2025 at 12:24 PM
Reposted by David Harrison Horton
forgottenpoets.bsky.social
For anyone who doesn't know - I didn't! - JSTOR now allows anyone 100 completely free articles a month. Excelsior!
JSTOR Home
JSTOR is a digital library of academic journals, books, and primary sources.
www.jstor.org
October 26, 2025 at 7:51 PM
Reposted by David Harrison Horton
dapowell.bsky.social
"Poem" by Joe Brainard.
Poem Sometimes everything seems so oh, I don't know.
October 26, 2025 at 5:42 AM
unionherald.bsky.social
A couple of odes in Penumbra (out of CSU Stanislaus). Ode to Sam Langford was a staff pick and will also appear in the print edition. www.penumbraonline.com
Ode to Sam Langford (in which things were noisome but not unpleasant) My neighbor has reached his Toulmouche’s Delicious Dolls stage of his story telling career: everything sounds beautifully spun but there’s nothing behind it. I tell him he’s being charming in a Tristan Tzara kind of way. And he laughs with abandon because he cares and doesn’t at the same time. So charming & delicious how he just carries on and on and on and
October 22, 2025 at 2:21 AM
unionherald.bsky.social
I've got three odes up in the @theargylelitmag.bsky.social latest realease: www.theargylelitmag.com/poetry-3/hor...
Three Poems — The Argyle Literary Magazine
by David Harrison Horton “There are workers up and down / the block again. / Construction never ceases / in this city.”
www.theargylelitmag.com
October 21, 2025 at 9:20 PM
Reposted by David Harrison Horton
henryghenrik.bsky.social
I have a new poetry pamphlet out, titled THE RAVLIN HOUSE – currently available here :
www.lulu.com/shop/henry-g...
The Ravlin House
THE RAVLIN HOUSE is the 9th in a series of poetry pamphlets, published as part of a larger project titled SHIELD OF MNEMOSYNE, which I began writing in 2024. In summer 2025, the first three of these ...
www.lulu.com
October 21, 2025 at 3:09 AM
unionherald.bsky.social
I pulled my light winter jacket out this morning. Sweater season in Beijing lasted two weeks this year.
October 19, 2025 at 5:09 AM
unionherald.bsky.social
As poetry editor, art critic Edward Lucie-Smith was bonkers: "Enright seldom rises to great heights," Bernard Spencer "was the type of the excellent minor poet," Heaney "is a brilliantly accomplished and facile writer, who works within an established convention." Even his praises are backhanded.
unionherald.bsky.social David Harrison Horton @unionherald.bsky.social · Oct 12
I’m embarrassed by how many of the poets included in this are new to me. Definitely a good used find for me. Seamus Heaney is listed under “New Voices.”
Cover of British Poetry since 1945.
October 18, 2025 at 9:40 PM
unionherald.bsky.social
Sometimes, I think about how Villard de Honnecourt's (13th century) sketchbook shows the cows in the towers of the Cathedral of Laon. This is what I think about when I'm waiting for football to start.
Detail photo of statues of cows in a tower of the Cathedral of Laon Detail from Villard de Honnecourt's sketches of the Cathedral of Laon showing cows in the towers.
October 12, 2025 at 11:21 AM
unionherald.bsky.social
I’m embarrassed by how many of the poets included in this are new to me. Definitely a good used find for me. Seamus Heaney is listed under “New Voices.”
Cover of British Poetry since 1945.
October 12, 2025 at 1:15 AM
Reposted by David Harrison Horton
nemoloris.bsky.social
I thought this John Berryman poem, exhumed from an archive by Shane Macrae and published in the TLS, was very fine.
October 11, 2025 at 7:24 PM